"Ah, smell that ocean breeze!"
We'd landed on some beach. The Doctor had, as per usual, refused to tell me where we were (though I secretly suspected he didn't know), so we'd decided to go for a walk. It was a grey beach, not unlike those you'd see in the movies when there's a sort of somber atmosphere. A quaint little lighthouse was perched right next to the shore, and beneath it—
"Doctor," I asked him, pointing to something shining in the water, "What's that?" "That's a…you know, I haven't got a clue."
"Well, that settles it," I said. "I'm going to get it."
"Romana—" he began, but whatever else he said I didn't hear. I'd dove underwater to retrieve the object. It was a long cylinder, about two feet in length and a half inch in diameter and covered in little silver circles. Wading my way out of the water, I looked at my object carefully in the hopes of figuring out what it was.
The Doctor, meanwhile, had determined where and when we were.
"Earth, England, 2063!" He looked tremendously pleased at his intelligence and ability to reason out what year it was. "I thought it smelled familiar!"
Taking a small cloth from a bright red coin purse I'd picked up while in Paris, I dried my mystery object. "What do you suppose it is, Doctor?"
"Hard to say, really…it looks kind of like a psycho-energetic temporal stabilizer."
"But time travel in the Mutter's Spiral isn't possible for another three thousand years!" "Except us," pointed out the Doctor. He took the stabilizer and pocketed it.
"It looks as though someone tried to toss it out the window," I commented, looking upward. "Or else it fell out on accident."
From above, in the lighthouse, we heard the sounds of a party. The Doctor simply turned to me and grinned.
It was a simple little party, as it turned out. The lighthouse was really a resort hotel, and was throwing a little party for all the guests. Adjusting my hat, and trying not to trip over the Doctor's scarf, we made our way in.
I scanned the faces of all the people, and found some rather interesting subjects. A man with a scarf to rival the Doctor's (except that it was made entirely of zebra leather); a woman with red hair, brown eyes, and a fiber-optic red dress; a blonde man dancing with her, calling her Kay and looking lovingly at her from under his orange hat; a little girl in a pink dress who obviously had wandered to the party on accident; and a teenage couple with purple hair and more piercings each than a 20th century dance club snogging vigorously in the corner.
The Doctor and I made our way to the bar for some water. The bartender came over, not recognizing us, and asked who we were.
"I'm the Doctor, and this is Romana." "How do you do," I politely added.
"'Aven't seen you two in 'ere before. Where ya from?"
"Gallifrey," said the Doctor. "That in Ireland?"
"I suppose so, yes," he replied with a grin. "Two waters, please."
I opened my little coin purse and took out a small scanner. The Doctor gave me a quizzical look. "Extra-human life," I said by way of explanation. "Whoever dropped that stabilizer isn't human.
But, according to my scanner, there are only two non-terrestrial life forms in the mile surrounding, and they're us."
"So who decided telepathic time travel should come to Earth?" We looked long and hard at one another, neither able to figure it out on our own. I folded up my scanner, seeing the dance dispersing.
"I'm going to go chat with that fellow in the funny scarf," said the Doctor, not realizing how absurd it would look to have the two of them together.
"Alright," I said, ready to do some people-watching.
The blond man came over to me. "So, what's your name?" "Romanadvoratrelundar," I replied, closing my coin purse. "Sorry?"
"Romanadvoratrelundar," I repeated helpfully. "But feel free to call me Romana," I added, gently tossing my hair out of my way and sipping my water.
"Right." He looked more bewildered than a gumblejack in a goldfish bowl. "You with that fellow in the funny scarf?"
"Well, if you mean the one with the curly hair, yes, I suppose so." "What's he to you, your husband?"
"Oh, no. We're just friends."
"You going on the cruise tomorrow?" "Oh, I rather hope so. It sounds lovely." "I guess so, if you like tours."
"It would be a refreshing change. We usually travel off the tourist paths." "Oh, is that so?"
I was overcome with a sudden headache, as if all the nerves in my head were screaming in protest against some psychic influence. "Uh, I'm sorry, I just got a touch of migraine. Perhaps I should retire to my room now." The man was visibly disappointed to be parting company, but he bade me goodnight all the same.
I passed the Doctor on my way up the hall. Of course, we didn't actually have a room, but I figured it was best to keep up appearances.
"Did you feel that?" I asked him.
"Yes, I did…it was like a thousand minds pressing against mine." "Mm," was about all I felt like saying.
We walked down the corridor, unsure of our destination, until he stopped suddenly.
"I've only just realized!" His eyes were bigger than usual, like the scientist who, for the first time, discovers the secret of gravity.
"What?"
"Psychic time travel! Don't you see? It's like playing the clarinet; at first, when you don't know what you're doing, you lose control and give everybody with the ability to hear a headache!"
"Oh, I see; and by the time you do refine your talent, you've made so many mistakes that it's hard to convince people that you can really do it."
"Something like that, yeah. We've got to find what's causing it before it blows a hole in the fabric of Time!"
We rushed down the hallway, completely clueless as to where to begin, only to see a group of children on the terrace, lying around as if sunbathing.
"Hello," said the Doctor, all smiles. "Would you like a jelly baby?"
The oldest of the children, no older than twelve, looked up at us with loathing. "You've ruined it!"
"Sorry?" asked the Doctor, genuinely confused.
All the children turned to look at the Doctor and they stared hard at him, as if to will him out of existence.
"Uh, terribly sorry, but I'd heard there was a group of children in need of adult supervision, and,
well…"
The children said in unison: "Go to the blackness, go to the dark, far away will you go, and never
return."
The Doctor vanished.
However, the teenager looked at me with a sick sort of lust. "You…you'll stay, I think, and witness the dawn of a new age of humanity!"
Outraged with every part of my being (after all, the Doctor had just disappeared, presumably never to be seen again), I glared at the boy. "What did you do to him?"
The boy just grinned.
I observed that all the children had a small pocket watch, the case made of a light wood. "What's that?"
"Capsule. Something beyond your comprehension, I expect." "A time traveling device?"
"Yeah."
"How's it powered?" I asked, though I had a hypothesis of my own. "Mental energy. Would you like a demonstration?"
The children then sat up in unison, and the ground beneath the hotel began to shake violently. The leader of the children had a strange look on his face, like an addict who was getting their fix. I thought my head might explode from the pressure. The pain faded.
"Impressive." "I know."
"But using psychic energy to power a time experiment is very dangerous." "Not to us."
"The amount of psychic energy needed to travel in time would be enough to destroy the whole planet!"
"So? We wouldn't be here." "When would you go back to?" "To the day of our births."
"Why?"
"That's a secret."
"Don't you think that time travel should be left to the experts?" "What experts?"
"The Time Lords."
"We walk in their guidance."
"What?" It was shocking to think that the Time Lords would disobey the First Law of Time by interfering in other societies.
"A Time Lord who calls himself the Master gave us the plans for the psycho-energetic temporal stabilizer. But we've lost it."
I'll say, I thought silently.
"Now we embark on the journey. We can't fail. Our destiny is placed in the stars, and if we have to destroy this puny planet, so be it!"
The ground shook, and I ran back to the TARDIS as soon as the children vanished, found the flight-path of the leader via the time-scanner, and followed it.
"Danger, mistress," warned K-9 faithfully.
"I know, K-9, but it's the only way to get the Doctor back." "Probability of success 9852:1 against."
"I've got to try!"
We materialized five blocks the boy's home, causing me to run faster than I'd run before. I burst into the house as the boy had been getting ready for the day. This wasn't when he'd wanted to end up, indicating something had gone wrong with his time capsule.
The boy (from his past) began explaining to me that if the process failed, he'd have to wait as long as he was old, until the process succeeded. Mid-sentence he stopped because his 24 year old self had appeared in the kitchen, finishing the sentence. Outraged, the man threw down his capsule and vanished. Seconds later, his 48 year old self appeared, only to vanish once more. Then, 96, he stopped trying, and broke down sobbing before vanishing again for the final time.
I had been watching the telly during all of this. Suddenly my scanner beeped. The Doctor was
back.
I ran downstairs and outside, and never had I been gladder to see him. He looked perplexed, but I promised to explain. We took a taxi back to where the TARDIS was, and I told him the story.
"I did get to catch up on my telly, though." "Oh?"
"Yes, that one programme where the computer had been about to tell on its creator for switching sides in a war, and another programme where an android had been put on trial to determine if it was property or a sentient being."
"Hmm, sounds interesting, if a bit silly." He chomped down on a green jelly baby.
"That one programme about the people with numbers was very interesting. Mind you, we passed that stage on Gallifrey centuries ago." The Doctor grinned.
I continued: "I managed to watch five hours of telly in ten minutes; don't you think that's remarkable?"
The Doctor turned to me, restraining laughter, and observed: "Oh, yes, quite amazing, almost like time travel!"
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